O’s Food and Wine Bar

We used to come here fairly frequently and loved their service and food. Last night’s experience was just unbelievably disappointing. It all started with their new menu… I looked at all the offerings and there was no more goat cheese risotto, no more tartines, no more anything that looked familiar or even interesting. But whatever, it’s o’s, the chef here can cook.
The bread came to our table after about 10 minutes sitting there. Please, please, cut down on the salt in that bread. It was pretty much inedible because it was so salty. We ordered the fried pea risotto, salmon entrée with apple and celery, halibut with provencal sauce, and steak with chimichurri sauce. After about another 20 minutes or so of waiting the fried pea risotto came. It was three small fried balls on top of marinara sauce. First bite into these «risotto» balls was filled with sticky and mushy rice with scattering of peas. There was no hint of the creaminess that risotto is supposed to have. They should just rename it fried rice balls, and reduce their prices because at $ 3 per small rice ball, it was the biggest freakin ripoff!!!
At this point I had to know what happened to the menu and what happened to the chef! I found out that the original chef, Philip, left to open his own restaurant in West Islip. That’s great news because at least he’ll still be on long island and it’ll be interesting to see what he cooks up in his new restaurant. The bad news is that his cooking will be farther from me.
Anyway, there’s really no point in reviewing the rest of the dishes because the entrees that came about 40 minutes later were just as disappointing to say the least. I won’t be back here again!

Ate there on ⁶⁄₃₀ and it was terrible! I had eaten there a few months earlier and the food was awesome everything on the menu was perfect. The argentina steak with mint sauce was so salty it made my eye tear. The mozzarella tartini was awful the orange fried calamari was served cold. The people sitting behind asked for the manager and voiced their displeasure and were told the old chef left and they have a new one who is working on the menu. I would not go back. Im glad I got to experience it when it first opened and would love to know where the original chef went!

I hate to give this place one star because when you first walk in, the bar is to the right and my neighbors look like they’re having a great time.
The food last night was horrible.
We walk in and are seated quickly. We ordered two glasses of wine and the bread was brought out. The olive oil had this weird green color? It tasted ok, it was just over infused and the color was murky.
I ordered a few tapas dishes, Lentils with Chorizo and the Meatball tapas.
The Lentils were ok but the meatballs? They were so hard and they tasted funny. Did you ever eat a hard meatball? First time in my life. The meatballs from grade school tasted better than what was served to me last night.
I called the waitress and she offered Chicken Skewers in Patay sauce.
They love to use the microwave here. The skewers were STEAMING because the microwaved them too long. The chicken was dried out, I was done with my meal.
We split a piece of Olive Oil cake and left.
O’s?
I think Im the Unilocal Duke here. Take it back, O’s is Oh No to me.
Never again

This use to be a posh place to eat. The potato fries was old and refried, the lentil had no flavor. The main course was deplorable and the coffee was stale. I was so disappointed and will not be back.
The bar was so loud and noisy, the server spilled the food on our table.

I finally had the opportunity to actually «dine» at O’s for the first time since they’ve replaced Oscar’s, quite some time ago. I’ve been to O’s several times for drinks etc, but never food their food. Here’s how it went down:
Tapas:
+ Crab cakes. Upon first view, they look like tater tots as they’re 3 of them on the plate and the sauce doesn’t quite go with it upon first bite. Then, as you make a dent into piece #2 and piece #3, you realize the sauce goes VERY well with it and in fact, the crabby-​ness was spot on for these little bite-​size critters. Perfect bite sized portions.
+ Crispy Pork, mache with fig balsamic vinaigrette and marcona almonds, cipolini onions and a squash purée. It was fantastic — the pork was perfeclty crispy, fatty, tasty, juice and done absolutely fantastically well!!! Is fantastically a word? I highly recommend you order this.
Food:
+ Grilled Octopus Salad with frisee and fingerling potatoes. It was a gigantic tentacle and it was grilled to perfection and charred well. The thin part of the tentacle wasn’t overcooked and the thick part was absolutely perfect. Nice work guys! We enjoyed this dish. The fingerling potatoes were fantastic… weren’t mushy or raw, perfectly tender.
Desserts:
+ Fondue with fruits and cookies. The fruits were just fruits. The fondue was a very buttery and rich consistency so I was happy to see how rich and thick it was. The cookies were «good» and just that.
+ & — Apple Beignets with House Made Peanut Butter Ice Cream. We substituted the vanilla ice cream that it came with for the peanut butter ice cream and it was fantastic. The beignets however were really appley and good though tasted a bit raw/​dough-​y and thus perhaps undercooked in the middle. :(. Great idea for creativity though and we loved the peanut butter ice cream
+ & — Molten Chocolate Cake and House Made Chocolate Ice Cream. The ice cream was fantastic and the molten chocolate cake was pretty good but I’ve had better. The cake-​y part was a bit hard/​stale but the molten part was done perfectly. Not sure if it perhaps dried out a bit or? Overbaked? The house made chocolate ice cream was an instant winner!!! :)
******BRING YOUR OWN WINE WITH NO CORKAGE FEE ANYDAY OF THE WEEK!!! THIS IS AWESOME!!!
Dave our waiter, was fantastic!!! I highly recommend sitting with him, he’s extremely nice, friendly and had everything timed perfectly; he allowed us to sit there for a few hours and thoroughly enjoy our experience.
Jenn the bartender whom I’ve known for many years, is also awesome!!! Make sure you go there on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and have a drink with her!
I will definitely be returning for another visit!
THIS has been a review by Gaurav

We came here with a living social deal, which would probably be the only way I would come as it is too expensive for a regular evening dinner. Prices were known from the start so I will not fault them. The wine list was small, and price was at least $ 30 a bottle. Fries from the tapas menu was bland, it needed ketchup but I was too embarrassed to ask. The risotto and meatballs were good, but nothing compared to an Italian homemade dinner. Entrees were a nice treat, she had stripped bass which she liked, and I had a chicken dish that was surprisingly good. The service was great, the ambiance was great, especially the saxophonist who did a cover of let it be. Jazz+beatles=blissful

My husband and i tried this place last Friday for the first time. We had a living social deal that came in very handy :) There was a lovely lady singing live and it was pretty packed. I had a delish steak (ribeye) special and my husband had the duck which was really good. So the ragout that came with my dish was a hefty portion but didnt seem to compliment my dish. My husbands dish was really good. Will def order the duck when we go back. The wine was a lovely wine and comparable to the pricing for the restaurant which was pricey. For dessert i had ice cream with some apple slices, forgot the name but the ice cream was VERY good. My husband had the crème brûlée and it was nothing to write home about. My husband actually make a better one. We did have a tuna tartare appetizer that my husband seemed to enjoy. The food and wine was very pleasing but the waitstaff could use some improvement. The host was very sweet, but out waiter although very pleasant to look at and had better eyebrows than mine (male) was not very attentive until it was time to grab the check. We will definitely return but because of $$ not very often.

My wife and I have been here many times throughout the years, through all of their iterations. We went last night with some trepdiation because we never left Os really liking it or really wanting to come back. But hey, we live in the area and like to support local places and we had a living social deal to boot.
I must say that the food was pretty tasty, but we only ordered 4 total dishes which were either off the tapas menu or an appetizer. We started with 2 tapas items: a special of fried oysters on top of a frisée salad and the meatballs with goat cheese risotto. Both were pretty darn good and the size was perfect for tapas.
Next, we had an appetizer special with foie gras and shrimp. It was the best dish of the night and I encourage ordering it if they have it when you’re there. The white tuna tartare was a big let down and they didn’t even use white tuna… just regular tuna that I don’t even think was sushi grade.
The service was just ok and the wine list is embarrassing. All in all, we enjoyed it but there’s something still lacking here and we’re in no rush to go back.

Went with my fiancée early on a Saturday. We had reservations but it was empty. It started to fill up by 7 though. The décor is really nice and homey, with gas fireplaces around the space. Seems like a pretty good bar scene. We ordered 2 tapas to share. We had the smoked beef quesadillas, which were not smokey at all, but good enough. We also had the meatballs with goat cheese risotto, which was nice. We shared an entrée — the short ribs. They were good, I enjoyed them. My fiancée thought they were a little salty. The dessert we got was AMAZING. We got the chocolate fondue and I practically licked the bowl it came in. I would have liked more of a variety of items to dip (you got fruit and 2 cookies) but the fondue itself was to die for. I would definitely go back to try more of the dishes.

One of my half-​baked dreams is to open a wine bar one day. O’s is a cautionary tale– my dining experience was like watching Icarus fly haughtily upwards towards the sun, unaware of what could possibly go wrong.
The Restaurant Week menu offered a number of interesting-​sounding dishes, and I feel that it was a decent value. Apparently, O’s had just re-​opened after some refurbishment, and their wine list is rather paltry right now– no French reds, at all. The manager offered to rustle up a bottle of Burgundy for me from the old stock, and came back with an ’06 Pommard– an off-​year for a middling appelation. I stuck with the cheap Australian stuff on the menu and accepted that we’d be aiming low.
The French onion soup was good, and their use of a funky Gruyère was pleasantly unexpected. The salmon dish that my date ordered was extremely pungent– I’m glad that she’s not picky, because I couldn’t handle more than a bite.
My entrée was the braised short ribs and polenta, which was an utter swing and a miss. I realize that short ribs are in fashion right now, and that O’s wants to run with the trendy kids. However, if you have ever tried a correctly executed version of this dish (say, at Manzo in NYC), you’ll understand just how flat this falls. The meat itself was excessively fatty and flavorless. Somehow, the polenta and trimmings became the star of the show, and the meat wasn’t treated with the respect that it deserves.
Dessert options weren’t as ambitious. It’s as if the staples of dessert have become a checklist for uninspired Long Island restaurants. Chocolate coronary surprise? Check. Berries and cream? Check. Apple pie a la mode? check. Except in this case, the berries and cream were called a berry napoleon, and the apple beignets played the role of apple pie. It all tastes the way it has in any other shape.
I want this place to work– really, I do. I want a nice wine bar to be a success on Long Island’s affluent North Shore, but haven’t found any that really fit the bill yet (though a few have come close). On the plus side, the service was excellent. On the other hand, to the chef and wine director– get it together, guys.

Small cozy and elegant. The chestnut fennel& curry soup was excellent. The lamb was very good. It makes for a romantic setting. THey have sound dampeners on the ceiling. Unfortunately we were sitting next to a loud family. Tapas act as great appetizers.

Came here for a chapter dinner I believe. The restaurant is very nice & the servers were very accommodating.
I went with a bunch of tapas from the menu & split with a friend. We ordered the meatballs, fries, lamb lollipops, steak skirt something? and probably something else that I can’t remember.
A lot of people got different things (we went with like 30ish people or more) everything looked delicious.
One thing that really stood out to me were the meatballs, they really made them well! It was perfect meatballs on top of mmm some sort of rice thing I can’t remember the name.
We had some random cocktails also, all which were pretty good. Go with what your server recommends they’re knowledgeable!
Overall, I’d go again to try the different foods, but it is definitely pricey.

Excellent food. Distracted service. It didn’t seem like there was an experienced waiter on the Saturday night staff.
Great calamari. Shishito peppers not quite as good as Nobu, but very good. Tartines w/​Prosciutto, Mozzarella, Chimichurri, Tomato & Avocado Very nice. Black Pepper & Sesame Seed Crusted Tuna, excellent.
Desserts were good too as was the wbg. The only weak food was decaf tea, some really cheap crap, and cappuccino that was warm, too foamy and served in them silly vertical glasses.

I went to O’s during Long Island restaurant week, and couldn’t have been happier with the food. After moving to Long Island from Chicago, I have been really disappointed with the food scene, especially finding Tapas, but O’s was great. The food was delicious and creative, and the portions were quite generous. I would say that the drinks we more on the expensive side, but seeing how I expected that, its not really a big complaint. We came on a Thursday night and got the last table right next to the live music, but it wasn’t too loud at all, and was actually quite good.
I would definitely recommend O’s to anyone who is looking to escape many of the «plain» dining options in the area.
EDIT: This review was posted for «Oscar’s» which is now listed as closed. so I moved the review over here.

The food at Oscar’s, or O’s, is usually delicious. The mussels are some of the best I have ever eaten and they are the most consistent item on the menu. Their tapas are hit-​or-​miss, but when you hit, it’s worth the misses. They have been doing a specials menu with a different cuisine for each month, which is really fun and yummy. This past month was Mexico and the margarita ceviche was fabulous.
Unfortunately, the service at O’s is not on par with the food. For example: this past week I was eating at Oscar’s and the restaurant was empty and the hostess took at least 5 minutes to break away from her conversation in order to seat us while we stood in the doorway twiddling our thumbs. Once we were seated, the waitress came over and said «either X or Y will be your server tonight», which seemed quite unprofessional. If you aren’t sure, don’t say anything at all. The real kicker came when I ordered a violet margarita (delicious, btw) which the waitress spilled ½ of all over herself on the way over. I don’t mind the spilling, but next she put the sloppy, messy, ½ of a beverage in front of me, which dribbled all over me when I drank, and said she would get me «the rest». She came back 10 minutes later with a little cup filled with the «rest» of my beverage and reached across my lap to pour it into my glass. It was extremely unprofessional. She either should have brought me a new drink in the same glass from the beginning or she should have brought me a second full drink. The service simply does not live up to the food, which bumps the restaurant from a 4 to a 3 in my book. Better than the other options on LI, but Fifth Season in Port Jeff is definitely a better choice for a classy evening out.

Last night was my first visit to this restaurant since it being called «O’s» and I came away very impressed. Of course, having an absolutely drop dead gorgeous Valentine’s Day date with me there can certainly make any place seem amazing (you made my review, Jess!!!), but I had little to complain about at all during my visit.
First, I very much appreciate being seated promptly when you have a reservation at a restaurant, especially one that is filled to capacity. It’s surprising how many times I arrive at a place for an 8:00 PM reservation and I’m told my table is not ready, conjures images of Jerry Seinfeld explaining that people know how to take a reservation, just not how to hold one… fortunately this did not happen as we were immediately seated at a quiet table in a very romantic setting in a back room of the restaurant.
They had a prix fixe tapas menu for $ 45 pp and a 4-​course for $ 65 pp. Not a huge fan when a restaurant takes away their advertised menu completely on a holiday, so a few points lost there, but the prix fixe tapas menu had such interesting choices that nothing was left to desire anyway… at least I think, since I couldn’t see the full menu…
The run down and evaluation of tapas is as follows:
Tuna Tartare served with house-​made potato chips. This was really very good. Not the best tartare I’ve ever had, but very fresh, and served with chunks of mango and sesame oil, the flavors paired extremely well.
Truffle Risotto Lollipops. These were indescribably amazing. I can’t describe them because they are indescribable, so just order them if you go.
Fried Calamari with Thai BBQ sauce. The calamari was cooked properly, and the sauce paired quite well with it. I won’t say it was particularly amazing or anything, but kudos for doing something different than the obvious (marinara sauce) or even the slightly less but still obvious (garlic aioli). We found that the homemade potato chips tasted great when dipped in the BBQ sauce.
Shrimp Cocktail. This was standard shrimp cocktail. Afterwards I realized that I would have rather have had the stuffed peppers since the shrimp cocktail was too mainstream of a choice. Our bad. Still though I enjoyed it.
Marinated skirt steak. This was marinated in a parsley olive oil. It was cooked a little more than my liking, they didn’t ask but I would have gotten it med-​rare, but the ends were a little chewy. Flavor was there though and it was a good cut of meat.
Meatballs with Risotto. The meatballs were very tender and had great flavor, but the risotto was the best part of this dish. It was a goat cheese risotto, very creamy with delicate hints of herbs. Loved it!
Shrimp Tempura. Ok, this to me was the only disappointment, and it was really mostly because of the sauce, although my date loved the sauce. I thought it was a pineapple mustard (I know, that sounds gross, right?), she thought it was a coconut mustard, which I then re-​thought my decision and decided she was correct (I know, that sounds gross, right?) and the waitress informed us that it was in fact a mango-​mustard (I know, that sounds gross, right… right?). So anyways I just didn’t get the sauce and the shrimp tempora. Well, I didn’t get the sauce. It’s not like it tasted bad, it just didn’t quite mingle in my palette in the way that perhaps the chef intended. And my date thought the shrimp tempora was a bit soggy, and although tempora frying does preserve more moisture than deep frying, I do have to agree with her that it was a bit soggier than I would have prefered.
Cut french fries with shaved and grated cheese. These were quite good. I don’t think my date was too enamored with them because she’s a crispy fry gal, and the cut fries were very short of that but intentionally so. The shaved and grated cheese seemed like a pecorino or parmigiana reggiano or maybe both, and I liked it very much atop the fries.
For dessert we were given a chocolate fondue with fruit. Huge problem here for me was… no bananas? Really? How do you do chocolate fondue without bananas? And they forgot to put grapes on my plate. I did like the mini-​muffin given, that was a nice touch. We later talked about how drippy the chocolate was, it was almost like the consistency of olive oil as opposed to the more syrupy consistency you’d expect.
The lack of bananas had me on a dangerously close edge of dropping my review to 3.4 stars and having to round down from there. But sharing this meal with such a beautiful lady has me placing 3.5 stars on O’s and rounding up to the nearest whole integer star value.
Atmosphere gets top marks from me here. The restaurant is quiet, inviting, the service is excellent, the wine selection is quite varied and might I say even reasonable in terms of price as well. I will definitely return but I must say this is a romantic spot — so Unilocalers make sure you don’t go here with your football buddies — enjoy this spot with the lady or gentleman of your life and I think it’ll go a very long way!

I just got home from a wonderful evening with friends a O’s .
It was so pleasantly surprised to find a quaint charming and elegant restaurant so close to home. It was fun, friendly, the staff were very lovely all evening each one of them I encountered. I can’t wait to go again now I know where I am going for Valentines dinner :). A wonderful wine list and a great selection of tapas and amazing deserts (all home made).
YUM !!
Barbara :0)

Hands down, one of the best diamonds in the rough of the Long Island cuisine landscape. Moving from California, Long Island has been an adjustment cuisine-​wise. But O’s was a seriously pleasant surprise, after several disappointments in the area.
We were lucky enough to be there during Smithtown’s Restaurant Week, which offered us a $ 25 prix fixe of tapas or entrees. The majority of the table tried the tapas: shishito peppers, tuna tartare, breaded shrimp, and braised spinach. The shishito peppers were really great, large, satisfying, sweet and mild. Quite tasty. The tuna was plated nicely (the tuna in a little jar with homemade potato chips), but was bit awkward to spoon. The flavor wasn’t a wow, but still good. The shrimp was a bit too breaded. A panko or light frying would have been preferred.
I had the rabbit risotto, which was well done and a good balance between rice, rabbit, and parmesan. Then came the crux of the night, the moules frites, a serious mound of mussels and sweet potato fries. The buerre blanc sauce was well done and absolutely beautiful. A must get and easily split, the moules frites were a definite favorite with the table.
All in all, this is hands-​down one of the best spots around Stony Brook and we will definitely be back…

Very attractive tapas and wine bar. It’s a cute place which reminded me of a small cottage with separated rooms which cut down on the noise. I really enjoyed the ambiance and Artie the owner was very warm and made us feel at home by spending about 5 minutes with us going over the menu.
I will list the 3 tapas below which we shared:
Little Neck Clams — Unbelievably tasty and large portion. Served with small cuts of sausage in a white wine, garlic and tomato broth good enough to dip your bread in. Clams were tiny and succulent. I’m telling you they really give you a lot. A definite must!!!
Tartines w/​Prosciutto, Mozzarella, Chimichurri, Tomato and Avocado Mousse — Sounds odd, but it was like the 4^th of July in your mouth. All of the flavors went well and exploded on your tongue.
Marinated Grilled Shrimp Cocktail — Ok. Nothing special. Nice presentation, but just 3 shrimp placed over a splattering of cocktail sauce.
The tapas were filling, but we were talked into ordering some entrees. My date ordered the short ribs because the waitress said it was one of the smaller entrees. It was huge! I took a bite and the meat was very tender. She only ate half and took the rest home. I stayed on the seafood track and polished off the Moules Frites. It was served in a similar broth as the Little Neck clams. Belgian type fries were salted well and I dipped some in the broth. The only mussels I left in the neat serving bowl were a few that didn’t open.
Shared an inexpensive bottle of Campo Viejo ($ 30) which was a very pleasant Spanish Rioja. The toasted bread basket with a basil infused olive oil was awesome as well. I highly suggest you give them a try even if you only sit at the bar for some cocktails and tapas. The area is saturated with noisy, chain restaurants because it is close to the Smith Haven Mall. O’s is the exact opposite. I noticed a chalkboard sign stating they have a late night menu. Plenty of parking in the shopping center next door.

****Update****
So I received a compliment today (yay!) that wasn’t actually a compliment (wah boo :() but a message saying that O’s HAS been reviewed, and I am not the first Unilocaler to have discovered it. Apparently O’s used to be called Oscar’s, and all reviews are listed under that name, in St. James. I’m not moving this review because I’m lazy, but I figured I would at least concede this is NOT O’s first review, and if you catch this one by accident and are looking for further reviews of O’s, look under Oscar’s in St. James. Update over, live long and prosper.
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I can’t believe I’m the first to review O’s on Unilocal!Give me a moment while I pat myself on the back for my phenomenal discovery. :pats self on back:
O’s is fantastic. It’s the type of cool elegance and terrific, interesting food that some say can only be found in Manhattan (some are wrong, great restaurants abound on Long Island). O’s is a tapas bar with a focus on good wines, small plates, and really well prepared, delicious food.
I went with a friend on a weeknight; it wasn’t super busy, but I’ve passed it on a Saturday night, and I can attest that it’s hoppin’ on the weekends. My friend had been there before, and she said it can get very crowded; reservations are recommended. We ordered four small plates to start; O’s has 25 small plates to choose from, in addition to the price fixe menu and regular entrees. The small plates were ordered were: the old fashioned meatballs with goat cheese risotto, steak tartare, beef quesadillas, and calimari. Everything was exceptional, and even in an exceptional crowd, the meatballs stood out.
On to entrees: we both had the moules frites, and, really, the moules frites are delectable. The sauce that the mussels are in is an odd shade of orange, but they are quite delicious! The frites those; those french fries practically define tasty! I had them with a side of mayo, which was clearly homemade. Tres bien!
For dessert, we ordered three items: the lemon tarte, the crème brûlée, and the caramel ice cream. Everything was wonderful, but the lemon tarte was just extraordinary. I highly, highly recommend that if you try O’s you ordered the lemon tarte as your dessert. It’s really just fantastic.
We didn’t drink, but my friend said that on previous occasions that the wine at O’s is phenomenal. The service is really great; our waitress let us take our time, and my friend Kim said that this is normal, whether they are super busy or not. I like that. O’s has a really nice atmosphere, updated without feeling too trendy, with great service and wonderful food. Since I’m the first to review O’s, I encourage you all to get out to St. James (it’s not close to me either! O’s is worth it!) and try out O’s!